Connecting Inquiry, Research, and Technology: The Multigenre Digital Inquiry Project

This article describes research on a Multigenre Digital Inquiry Project (MDIP), a technology-infused project designed to provide an opportunity for students to inquire about a topic of interest and share their research using 21st century technologies. Instead of composing a research paper or literature review, students designed a website with pieces written in multiple genres to share their learning, including at least two pieces created using digital tools. In this article, the authors share the design of the MDIP and how it was implemented in three teacher education courses. Data analysis aimed to understand how pre-service teachers engaged in this project and reflected on their learning. Using themes from the analysis of students’ end-of-semester reflections and memos written about the pieces included in the projects, the authors share how students valued support in various areas including technology, how they expanded their views of writing and genre, and how their experiences illustrated academic, personal, and pedagogical growth. Ultimately, students learned from this challenging, yet rewarding experience. Finally, the authors share suggestions for others interested in incorporating a MDIP in their work

ERPs reveal the temporal dynamics of auditory word recognition in specific language impairment.

We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to compare auditory word recognition in children with specific language impairment (SLI group; N=14) to a group of typically developing children (TD group; N=14). Subjects were presented with pictures of items and heard auditory words that either matched or mismatched the pictures. Mismatches overlapped expected words in word-onset (cohort mismatches; see: DOLL, hear: dog), rhyme (CONE -bone), or were unrelated (SHELL -mug). In match trials, the SLI group showed a different pattern of N100 responses to auditory stimuli compared to the TD group, indicative of early auditory processing differences in SLI. However, the phonological mapping negativity (PMN) response to mismatching items was comparable across groups, suggesting that just like TD children, children with SLI are capable of establishing phonological expectations and detecting violations of these expectations in an online fashion. Perhaps most importantly, we observed a lack of attenuation of the N400 for rhyming words in the SLI group, which suggests that either these children were not as sensitive to rhyme similarity as their typically developing peers, or did not suppress lexical alternatives to the same extent. These findings help shed light on the underlying deficits responsible for SLI

Meeting Standards 2017? A National Survey of Classroom Teacher Preparedness for Literacy Instruction

The purpose of this study was to gain a preliminary understanding of how literacy teacher educators in the United States view classroom teacher preparedness for literacy instruction. A cross-sectional survey was developed using the most recent version of professional preparation standards and components for classroom teachers released by the International Literacy Association. Quantitative data were collected among 205 respondents and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings for respondents’ views were reported by grade-level band (i.e., preK/primary, elementary/intermediate, middle/high school), which revealed three overarching trends. A discussion of trends was provided, along with implications for literacy teacher education and future research areas

The role of residence time distribution in the continuous steady-state mixed suspension mixed product removal crystallization of glycine

In this work, a vacuum-driven intermittent transfer technique has been implemented to solve transfer line blockage issues and facilitate steady-state cooling crystallization studies of α-glycine in a single- and two-stage mixed suspension mixed product removal (MSMPR) crystallizer. Experimental residence time distribution (RTD) analysis of the stirred tank MSMPR cascade is performed using an imperfect pulse method of the axial dispersion model to benchmark the mixing performance against that of tubular crystallizers and determine the influence of RTD on steady-state size distribution of α-glycine product. Process analytical technology (PAT) is used to monitor and understand crystallization process dynamics, and the effect of MSMPR operating temperature, mean residence time, and number of MSMPR stages on mean particle size, crystal size distribution, and yield is studied. Results show the significance of nucleation and growth mechanisms alongside RTD in determining steady-state size distribution, and the need for optimum control of supersaturation to benefit from improved RTDs provided by multistage MSMPR crystallizers

A 22-year Southern Sky Survey for Transient and Variable Radio Sources using the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope

We describe a 22-year survey for variable and transient radio sources, performed with archival images taken with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST). This survey covers 2775 \unit{deg^2} of the sky south of $\delta < -30\degree$ at an observing frequency of 843 MHz, an angular resolution of 45 \times 45 \csc | \delta| \unit{arcsec^2} and a sensitivity of 5 \sigma \geq 14 \unit{mJy beam^{-1}}. We describe a technique to compensate for image gain error, along with statistical techniques to check and classify variability in a population of light curves, with applicability to any image-based radio variability survey. Among radio light curves for almost 30000 sources, we present 53 highly variable sources and 15 transient sources. Only 3 of the transient sources, and none of the variable sources have been previously identified as transient or variable. Many of our variable sources are suspected scintillating Active Galactic Nuclei. We have identified three variable sources and one transient source that are likely to be associated with star forming galaxies at $z \simeq 0.05$, but whose implied luminosity is higher than the most luminous known radio supernova (SN1979C) by an order of magnitude. We also find a class of variable and transient source with no optical counterparts.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 34 pages, 30 figures, 7 table

Epidemiology of antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli carriage in sympatric humans and livestock in a rapidly urbanizing city

There are substantial limitations in understanding of the distribution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans and livestock in developing countries. This papers present the results of an epidemiological study examining patterns of AMR in Escherichia coli isolates circulating in sympatric human (n = 321) and livestock (n = 633) samples from 99 households across Nairobi, Kenya. E. coli isolates were tested for susceptibility to 13 antimicrobial drugs representing nine antibiotic classes. High rates of AMR were detected, with 47.6% and 21.1% of isolates displaying resistance to three or more and five or more antibiotic classes, respectively. Human isolates showed higher levels of resistance to sulfonamides, trimethoprim, aminoglycosides and penicillins compared with livestock (P0.05). These findings revealed a high prevalence of AMR E. coli circulating in healthy humans and livestock in Nairobi, with no evidence to suggest that keeping livestock, when treated as a single risk factor, contributed significantly to the burden of AMR in humans, although the presence of livestock waste was significant. These results provide an understanding of the broader epidemiology of AMR in complex and interconnected urban environments

MPLEx: a Robust and Universal Protocol for Single-Sample Integrative Proteomic, Metabolomic, and Lipidomic Analyses

ABSTRACT Integrative multi-omics analyses can empower more effective investigation and complete understanding of complex biological systems. Despite recent advances in a range of omics analyses, multi-omic measurements of the same sample are still challenging and current methods have not been well evaluated in terms of reproducibility and broad applicability. Here we adapted a solvent-based method, widely applied for extracting lipids and metabolites, to add proteomics to mass spectrometry-based multi-omics measurements. The m etabolite, p rotein, and l ipid ex traction (MPLEx) protocol proved to be robust and applicable to a diverse set of sample types, including cell cultures, microbial communities, and tissues. To illustrate the utility of this protocol, an integrative multi-omics analysis was performed using a lung epithelial cell line infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, which showed the impact of this virus on the host glycolytic pathway and also suggested a role for lipids during infection. The MPLEx method is a simple, fast, and robust protocol that can be applied for integrative multi-omic measurements from diverse sample types (e.g., environmental, in vitro , and clinical). IMPORTANCE In systems biology studies, the integration of multiple omics measurements (i.e., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics) has been shown to provide a more complete and informative view of biological pathways. Thus, the prospect of extracting different types of molecules (e.g., DNAs, RNAs, proteins, and metabolites) and performing multiple omics measurements on single samples is very attractive, but such studies are challenging due to the fact that the extraction conditions differ according to the molecule type. Here, we adapted an organic solvent-based extraction method that demonstrated broad applicability and robustness, which enabled comprehensive proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics analyses from the same sample